Germany: 'Not an acceptable solution' for nation to take 2,000 stranded migrants

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The German government has rejected Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s demand that the EU accommodate 2,000 migrants stranded at the border with Poland.

“The idea that there can be a humanitarian corridor to Germany for two thousand migrants, we also said that last week, Interior Minister Seehofer also said that last week during his visit to his Polish counterpart, that is not a solution acceptable to Germany or the EU,” spokesperson Steffen Seibert said during a press conference in Berlin on Monday.

Referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conversation on the phone with Lukashenko last Wednesday, Seibert stated, “The federal chancellor spoke to Mr Lukashenko on the phone twice, as she did, she did so because there is an appalling humanitarian situation along the Belarusian-Polish border,” and added, “attempts must always be made to find solutions in the interests of the people who are holding out there in very difficult circumstances.”

The migrant crisis comes amid escalating tensions between the EU and Belarus. Brussels has accused Lukashenko of orchestrating the migrant flow as part of a ‘hybrid war’ designed to pressure the bloc over sanctions. Minsk has denied the allegations. Poland last month strengthened border patrols on the frontier with Belarus and put up a barbed-wire fence in place to stem the flow.

On the subject of mandatory vaccinations, Seibert said the coalition government would need to consider the decision, when they take power.

“There is no decision about it now, and it would not be taken by this federal government any more,” he said. However, he also indicated that “federal states have urged institutions to make vaccination compulsory for all employees in hospitals, in institutions providing nursing care, in nursing homes for the elderly and in mobile care.”

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Steffen Seibert, Government spokesperson (German): “You know that when the federal chancellor spoke to Mr Lukashenko on the phone twice, as she did, she did so because there is an appalling humanitarian situation along the Belarusian-Polish border, i.e. the border between Belarus and the European Union. And, of course, because attempts must always be made to find solutions in the interests of the people who are holding out there in very difficult circumstances.”

SOT, Steffen Seibert, Government spokesperson (German): “She spoke with the head of UNCHR (UN Commissioner for Human Rights) and with the head of IOM (International Organisation for Migration) last week, because our effort is of course to create access for these important organisations so that they can help with the humanitarian care of the migrants along the border, but so that they can also act when it comes to the safe repatriation to the home countries.”

SOT, Steffen Seibert, Government spokesperson (German): “The idea that there can be a humanitarian corridor to Germany for two thousand migrants, we also said that last week, Interior Minister Seehofer also said that last week during his visit to his Polish counterpart, that is not a solution acceptable to Germany or the EU.”

SOT, Steffen Seibert, Government spokesperson (German): “Under the impression of the force of the fourth pandemic and the special threat to the elderly and vulnerable people, the federal states have urged institutions to make vaccination compulsory for all employees in hospitals, in institutions providing nursing care, in nursing homes for the elderly and in mobile care.”

SOT, Steffen Seibert, Government spokesperson (German): “Well, this discussion about the possible introduction of mandatory vaccination has now come up and since we have to recognise that advertising, educating, convincing alone has not achieved the vaccination rate that will get us safely through the winter, it is at least an understandable discussion, insofar as it is also a discussion that one can assume will be continued. There is no decision about it now, and it would not be taken by this federal government any more.”

#Migrants #Bundespressekonferenz #Germany #Belarus

Video ID: 20211122-031

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